The Five Cravings of Your Soul—And Why Only God Can Fully Satisfy Them

Welcome And Guest Introduction

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hello everyone, thank you again for joining me on another episode of the Dorset show. This morning we ha uh Today's guest is someone who dies deep into questions most of us feel but don't always know how to articulate. He's a pastor, author, and thinker who counters the way we understand faith and purpose and what it really means to be human. Through his work, he explores the idea that we are more than just minds and bodies, that at our core we are souls with deep engravings that shape everything we do. His book, The Magnetic Heart of God, takes readers on a powerful journey into these inner learnings, offering a fresh and compelling vision of God, identity and fulfillment. He's not afraid to wrestle with the hard questions about belief, doubt, heaven, hell, and why so many people f still feel empty even when the even when life looks full on the outside. So today we're going to unpack what it really means to truly understand the soul, why we shake the things we do, and how we can begin to live with deeper purpose and clarity. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the show, Corey Ruganek. Corey, thank you so much for coming on the show today.

SPEAKER_01 1:34

Thank you so much for having me. I'm excited to be here.

SPEAKER_00 1:36

Tell us a little bit about yourself and about, you know, your background and where you're from and everything.

SPEAKER_01 1:43

Sure. I was raised a poor country boy in Canada, grew up in the in the plains of Alberta, and then as a young, young child moved to the mountains of British Columbia, where um we were a very poor family, but I was raised in a Christian family. Um there's a whole lot I could say about that, but I ultimately I left home when I was 14 years

Corey’s Childhood And First Questions

SPEAKER_01 2:05

old and um started working on some ranches as a cowboy and as a horse trainer. Really left home searching for the meaning of life, searching to understand why I was different than the people around me, why my family lived different than the people around me did. And though I was raised in a Christian home, it wasn't until I was probably 22, 21, I was reading the book The Iliad by Homer, one of the earliest works of literature ever written, you know, the one that tells the story of the Battle of Troy and Achilles and Hector. And in that book, at the beginning of the book, it talks about how some of the gods were on the side, the Trojans, some of the Greek gods were on the side of the Greeks. And um, these gods were at war in the heavenlies with each other, and they were cheating on each other, and they were betraying each other. And I remember very clearly having a moment where I literally sat up in my chair and I and I asked my, I said to myself, God isn't like this. Who is he? And I'd grown up, I said, in a Christian home, I knew the right answer, so to speak, from the scripture, going to Sunday school and Bible camp, but I didn't have a personal relationship. And it was at that moment where I truly wanted to know who God was, and that's where by God's good grace I was led to a Bible-believing church, and I learned about my sin and and how redemption applied to me, how I needed a savior, and that's kind of where my whole journey began.

SPEAKER_00 3:31

Now, you said that you left home at the age of 14. What what how how did that come about? I mean, what what was the background and context on that? Because no more 14-year-old, I mean, maybe some of them do want to leave home, but you know, some of them don't actually go out and and do it.

SPEAKER_01 3:53

Yeah. Well, you know, that's an interesting, it's interesting question. And and I'll say this, you know, I always remember my parents being loving. I always remember them being kind. I always remember them caring for me. But um at that particular age, you know, like I said, we were in

Leaving Home At Fourteen

SPEAKER_01 4:10

poverty. We were um for a while as young, we were homeless, and then there was another season of life where we lived in a log cabin on a mountainside with no power or running water. You know, my brother and I would bathe in the waterfall close to the house. We got our water from the stream. Um, and then when we left there, there was a season where we were living at my grandparents' house. And and for me, it was just there was just something inside of me that that um that wanted to prove to the world that I that I was something. And I left home with a real chip on my shoulder. I I left home feeling like I had to I had to prove to the world that I was worth something. And somehow that was a motivator of mine, and for whatever reason, my parents let me do it. And uh yeah, the rest, as they say, is history.

SPEAKER_00 4:58

How did that your young life growing up like you did, you know, poor, you know, maybe, you know, not a lot of things, different things of that nature, how did that life and your experiences shape your worldview and your faith today?

SPEAKER_01 5:15

Yeah, well, I would say my response to poverty and isolation and that we lived up on the mountain was reading. And so from a very young age, I I was into books. And so I often say that I I wandered those mountain slopes with my dog and with a bag of books. And I would wander the mountainside and find a tree, and I would lean back and read. And it started with reading Louis Lemoire Westerns. You know, as a kid, I just loved Louis Lemour Westerns. And then in Louis le More Westerns, he talked about Blackstone, books of law. He talked about Plutarch, you know, the books of Roman and Greek history, and that sparked my mind and an interest on those things. And so um I started reading Plato and Aristotle as a very young age, like ages 10, 11, 12, 13, I was into these deep, deep books. And, you know, I often say reading is something special because it to it can sweep you away into other worlds, it can sweep you away into fresh perspectives. And so from a very young age, um, I had had a world open up to me that was not only beautiful, but it was also one that challenged my Christian faith. You know, I growing up in the home, you know, I'd just been told, hey, there is one God and this is what this is what he asks of you. And then of course I learned, oh, other people have different beliefs. And, you know, that, like I said, from from the philosophers, Marcus Aurelius, like I said, um, Aristotle, I was introduced to Freud, or I really became interested in the human mind and how the human mind worked. And and from Freud, I remember actually I remember as a young child um someone at church telling me, learning that I like to read, and they said, you should read C.S. Lewis. And look looking back, I think they were thinking, oh, this kid should read the Chronicles of Narnia. And uh I didn't hear that though, so I jumped straight into mere Christianity and the great divorce and the screw tape letters. You know, these deep, beautiful, wonderful works of that that paralleled, you know, theology and philosophy, which is something that really shaped who I who I became. And then C.S. Lewis introduced me to A. W. Tozer, who again kind of takes it to a whole new level of theological depth. And so, yeah, I would say that my my poverty and isolation of my childhood led me to the world of reading, and reading opened up the world to explore all the philosophies that the world believed. And really, I was confronted at that time. Um, like I said, at the time that I was reading the Iliad, where it all came back to me, because I at the time I was kind of accepting of everything, you know, what what we call syncretism in theology, right? It's it's what the Israelites were guilty of when they were brought out of Egypt. You know, on one hand, they believed God, on the other hand, they were trusting the gods of Egypt, right? They made a golden calf and they put God's name on it. They were trying to mix belief

How Books Shaped Faith And Doubt

SPEAKER_01 8:10

systems. And I can say that I was really trying to do that. And it was in that moment, a Holy Spirit moment, where I feel like the Lord got a hold of me and I asked the right question at the right time by his divine power and providence, and um have been chasing and loving Jesus ever since.

SPEAKER_00 8:26

You described yourself as a pastor theologian and storyteller. How did these three paths come together in your life?

SPEAKER_01 8:38

Oh, what that's a great question. You know, I don't think I've ever been asked that. I appreciate that. You know, to kind of give you a condensed answer, um, to start with, I was a musician. Uh I was a guitar player, and for a while in the past, I was I was a recording artist, a Christian recording artist as well. And um, but what had happened was at the time, right when I was kind of going to church and I'd been asked to be on a worship team, to be honest, I wasn't spiritually qualified, but you know, they they needed help, and so I started playing music. At the time, I really wasn't serving the Lord. I was just, they had asked me to share my gift, and so I shared my gift. And then it was after that that I fell in love with Jesus. And so as a musician, I started being invited to other churches to do concerts or to lead worship at other churches. And then that was right at the time that I was falling in love with Jesus, and then I just couldn't shut up. Between songs or before songs, I was just constantly sharing the gospel and talking about, you know, God's work in my life, his convicting work, his healing work. And one time uh one of the pastors of the church I was at just said, Hey, you might as well just preach. And so he invited me back the next Sunday to preach. And that is when I feel like I discovered my true calling, where music was a gift that God had given me to bless other people, sharing his word and the truth of his word was my calling. And um, preaching led me to writing, which is something I didn't know I could do, you know, is kind of a gift that he just called me, an opportunity to really share his voice and his word with people beyond the reach of my microphone. And uh yeah, that's how those two, those, those paths kind of came together was music led me to preaching. You know, preaching led me to delve deep into theology where I fell in love with Jesus and uh ultimately began writing.

SPEAKER_00 10:20

Now you mentioned before we started that you live in California, now you're originally from from Canada. Are you still preaching and pastoring in California?

SPEAKER_01 10:32

Yes, I am an associate pastor at a church in California in Sunnyvale, California. And um it's been a it's been a super great blessing because um I uh I preach, you know, frequently, not all the time, but but frequently. I I still I'm involved in in worship and small groups, but I've really been released to be writing and thinking and counseling and coaching people. And um, so that's really kind of my day-to-day role here at the church. And uh, but it really has blessed me with a season where I can really zero in on what God has really given me a desire to to write and to share truth at a new depth that oftentimes you oftentimes you can't do when you're preaching. There's a new depth that can happen when someone sits down with a book and a cup of coffee and a highlighter, and they can really delve into the word. And that's that's the part that I'm most passionate about right now.

SPEAKER_00 11:28

About the book, um, your book that you wrote, the magnetic heart of God.

SPEAKER_01 11:34

Yeah. You know, I I started that book. Um, it was interesting. On Easter Sunday 2019, I remember I was I was starting a five-week series. And on Easter Sunday, you know, as a pastor, you we all know we're gonna talk about the resurrection. It's Easter, it's the Super Bowl for Christians, it's the most exciting time. But at the same time, on Easter Sunday, you always know that the church is gonna be full. It's gonna be filled with people who come every Sunday. They're all gonna be there. It's gonna be filled with people who only come on Easter and Christmas, you know, the Christians who were, you know, only come back that that time. And it's gonna be filled with people who don't want to be there, you know, people who have come back to visit family or whatever, and they're not really churchgoers, but because they're visiting family for the holiday, they got they got to go to church. And I really was like, how can I communicate that the gospel is relevant to everybody? And that's where I really feel like the Lord first gave me this idea, this vision of understanding the gospel by first understanding who and what we

Music To Preaching To Writing

SPEAKER_01 12:40

are. We are, if we really want to understand the gospel, if we really want to understand what it means to be human, we need to understand what the original purpose and design of our creation was. And we were created in the Garden of Eden as eternal beings created in the image of God. And I think eternity is not something that is added later. It's not something where God says, okay, you're just a mortal being right now. If you're a good person, then as a bonus life, I'm gonna give you eternal happiness at the end. And if you're a bad person, I'm gonna give you eternal punishment at the end. That is not our design. We are eternal creatures. And because of the fall in the Garden of Eden, we are all on the wrong path towards eternal separation from God. But Jesus has stepped into the path and given us an opportunity to become reconnected with God as we were intended in the Garden of Eden, where Adam and Eve walked in dependence and in connection with their maker. And so, really, what I try to do when I'm talking about the soul is oftentimes I want to remind people, some, you know, I'll tell you, Dorsey, sometimes I do a fair bit of podcast, radio, television, interviews, and I would say that 60 to 70% of the time I am invited on a show. It is not a Christian-based show. I've been on shows with philosophers and doctors and psychologists and psychiatrists and metaphysicists and even Buddhists and Hindus. I've been on the show with, I've had witches invite me onto the show because people are craving, are craving to find their purpose and who and why they are. And so, just to kind of answer your question again, get back to your question, where did it begin? It began on that Easter Sunday where I wanted to communicate to people that not only are you a sinner in need of a savior, right? But you are a soul that cannot find fulfillment unless it is living in connection with its maker. Because that is what you were designed for. And we can try to fit in all the money. We've all tried it in the world, right? Maybe money will satisfy this craving within me, but it never satisfies. Maybe power and control will satisfy it, but it never satisfies because it's vulnerable, it can be taken away. Maybe sex will satisfy. Maybe I'll try to escape the world with kind of mind-altering substances and drug use, and it never satisfies. Tomorrow you always have to get more. The reason is because we are trying to feed eternal craving with temporary satisfaction, and it never works.

SPEAKER_00 15:24

Why do you think that

Why The Gospel Starts With The Soul

SPEAKER_00 15:25

is? Why do you think people are warning for, you know, that that feeling that you mentioned before, you know, that warning and whatnot. Why do you think people want that?

SPEAKER_01 15:38

Well, I the reason I called the book the magnetic heart of God, it's called The Magnetic Heart of God, Understanding the Five Cravings of Your Soul. And in the book, I show how I believe God placed these five core cravings inside of humanity. It's a craving that every human who has ever existed experiences, and these five cravings are the source of all human activity, whether for good or for evil. God placed these cravings inside of us for the purpose of drawing us back to Him. Because only in Him can they be satisfied. And so, just to give you a brief overview, the cravings are security. Everybody who's ever existed craves security, both physical security and relational security. We need to know our hearts are safe in the hands of those who hold them. So security, identity, we need to know who we are, why we are, if we have value, if we have purpose. Security, identity, independence, or what we in America call freedom, right? You know, every human who's ever lived craves a sense of autonomy of some kind. Security, identity, independence, significance. We all need to know we're special. And then the final one is innocence. We all need to have a feeling that we are, I'm a good man. And that, you know, she's a good girl. We need to believe this about ourselves. Even if it's not true, we try to believe we try we try to believe we have to believe it. And so you look at these things and go, well, we try to find security in missiles. We try to find security in bank accounts, but they never are quite secure because they can always be taken away. There's only one place we could find full security, and that is in the knowledge that we are created by a God who loves us, and that even if the worst happens here on earth, eternal joy and eternal life is ahead of those who love Christ Jesus. When we talk about identity, in a modern world, the world's crying out for identity. We look for identity in our diplomas, in our careers. And today's world, people are looking for identity in their and their sexuality and somehow being different from the people around them. All of those identities are fragile, all of them are facades. Ultimately, our identity is that we are loved and cherished, sons and daughters of God, and nothing else can satisfy freedom. You know, we can trace this back to the Garden of Eden, right? Where God placed a testing tree in the Garden of Eden and said, there's just one tree you can't eat from. And Adam and Eve, the serpent promised Adam and Eve, when you do this, if you eat from this tree, you will have the ability to determine good and evil for yourself. And this is ultimately what the that echo of the serpent is what echoes around the world today. You determine what's good. You determine what's evil, not God, you get to do it. And that is related to freedom. I get to have the autonomy to decide. It echoes within each one of us. But it's only in the protective

The Five Cravings That Drive Us

SPEAKER_01 18:45

framework of God's Word, where He has given commands because He loves us, He's given us commands to keep us safe, that we can actually have freedom in a safe environment that does not destroy ourselves. Because if you give you give us freedom, we'll just want more freedom. And ultimately, we'll want freedom until we destroy ourselves. But God has given us this beautiful protective boundaries that says, in these boundaries, you are free. Security, identity, independence, significance. Like I said, the world is saying, I'm gonna find significance, and again, and how much money I have and how attractive I am, and how Usain Bolt, I'm sure his significance is in the fact that he's the fastest man on earth. The day someone breaks that record, his sense of significance is going to shatter. We keep placing our significance in these things. Or I place my significance in the fact that Dorsey thinks I'm a special person, right? And but then in the day comes I disappoint you and my significance is shattered, right? The only place we can find true significance is in the fact that God loves me so much, he loves you so much, that he gave his one and only son to die for you. That's the value he places on you. There's no greater sense of significance than understood in the depths of his love. And then there's innocence. Think of this, Dorsey. Almost every conflict that you have or your listeners have with other people happens because what I call innocence wars begin. So I'll give you an example of husbands and wives. This is what tends to happen. You know, the wife comes into a room and says to her husband, You left your socks on the floor again. Now, what the husband should do is say, You're right, I apologize. But and maybe they do that sometimes as they mature, but really what happens is that she just said I was guilty of something. And I and the sin nature inside me has a problem with that. So more general, the response is is, yeah, I did that, but you know, you left the you left the decision in the sink again.

unknown 20:43

Right?

SPEAKER_01 20:43

And saying, Yeah, I'm guilty of something, but but I'm less guilty than you.

unknown 20:48

Right?

SPEAKER_01 20:48

I don't need to feel completely innocent, but I just need to feel more innocent than you. I don't need to feel like I'm totally, you know, that I'm not guilty, I just need to feel less guilty than you. Almost every fight that spouses have, that siblings have, often comes around the fact that that's their feelings someone has accused them of wrongdoing, and we cannot live with a sense of wrongdoing. And so we try to try to declare ourselves innocent, but if we as you well know, we are not innocent. We are all fallen, we are all guilty. It is only in the work of Christ that we can actually be declared innocent. So God placed these cravings inside of us for the purpose of showing us that the only place they can be satisfied is in Him. But what the world has done is they have taken these cravings, they have rejected God, they have said, I'm going to define good and evil for myself, and they've gone out into the world and tried to find satisfaction in earthly things. And you cannot satisfy heavenly craving with earthly things. I often say that the world is obsessed with pleasuring the body and entertaining the mind, but they've forgotten that the Soul is the core of who they are. And so it's like we are sitting on a pile of ever-increasing possessions and starving because we are not feeding the core of who we are.

SPEAKER_00 22:12

You mentioned in the in the introduction that I wrote that I um read about you that you like to talk about some of the hard questions about heaven and hell. Tell us about some of those questions that you think about or that you've been asked and that you've had to answer.

SPEAKER_01 22:33

Yeah, and so just to kind of bridge those two things together, so the first book I wrote, The Magnetic Heart of God, is about the soul, what the soul is looking for now. And if and if you want to live a life of peace and happiness now, it's only going to be found in connection with your maker. Getting more money is not going to make you happy. Having more sex is not going to make you happy. Getting more control is not going to make you happy. It's never going to be enough. My second book is called A Song of Light and Fire, An Uncensored Journey Through Heaven and Hell. And in that book, I really took it beyond this life into eternity. And really what I wanted to look at is what does the Bible actually say about heaven? What does the Bible actually say about hell? And I chose a different route with this book. I decided to write it as a narrative. And so I start with historical people, and I start in a true historical setting, and then I follow some martyrs into death and I follow them into heaven. And I said I write it like a narrative. What do they experience when they first get to heaven? What do they see? What is the throne room like? You know, what is the landscape like? What is the feeling that they're experiencing? And so I wanted people, I wanted to take people to heaven

Heaven And Hell Through A Story Lens

SPEAKER_01 23:50

in this book so they could fully experience it. And then the part two of the book, I follow another historical person into hell with the same purpose. I didn't want to just tell people about hell. I wanted them to be able to experience, to hear it, to taste it, to have the chill on, you know, the hair on the back of their neck stand on end. Um, and then the part three of the book is an appendix in which I tie it all together and I say, I show how this what didn't just come out of my imagination. This is all tied to the scriptures. The reason I describe the tree of life this way is because here's the way it's described in the scriptures. You know, the reason why I described torment this way is because here's how it's described in the scriptures. And so it really, you know, for many people, they they ask the question the hard questions of why does hell exist? My auntie was a really nice person, but she didn't believe in Jesus. Why on earth? Like, why would hell, I have to think that she could possibly be in hell. These tough questions that we ask. So my first book answered the tough questions of why aren't you happy? Why can't you find fulfillment? Why is there war and friction in the world around us? And my second book really answers the questions of what is heaven? What is hell and why does it exist? And who goes to those places and why? And where can people pick up your book? Yeah, my books are available uh anywhere books are sold. And I generally direct people to uh to Amazon because they've they've been good to me as far as having a track record of getting my books to people in a timely and proper manner. Um Barnes and Noble, um, really wherever books are sold, um, it should be easy to find, either searching my name or the or the name of the book.

SPEAKER_00 25:30

Why do you think, and we and we talked about this a little bit already, but why do you think so many people feel unfulfilled even when they achieve success, money, or status?

SPEAKER_01 25:43

Yeah. They feel unfulfilled because earthly treasure cannot fill a heavenly bank account. In that sense, and so, you know, in a in a psychological sense, if I was to move into a psychological realm for a moment, the reason is because they intuitively know that it can be taken away. Right? I mean, two months ago the stock market was roaring and everyone's you know, 401ks were doing really well. Today, events in the earth and the world have changed and they've plummeted, and people, so people who have placed their security and their hope or their identity or their significance in their bank account, you know, they can never quite live at peace because they're vulnerable. Right? And so ultimately the reason we can't why we can't find fulfillment is because, like I said, we're trying to fill a heavenly account with earthly treasure. I saw an interview with Elon Musk a number of years ago, and the interviewer asked him, Are you happy? That

Why Money And Status Never Satisfy

SPEAKER_01 26:40

was the question they asked Elon Musk. The most, to the best of our knowledge, he's the richest man who has ever existed in the entirety of the human race. There is nothing on earth he cannot have. And I remember him pausing kind of in that Elon Musk way that he does. And he said, I don't think many people would want to be me. Just think of it. The world's richest person says, Trust me, you don't want to be me. And it blows up our entire narrative because, you know, for generations, for thousands of years, we've been told if you get enough wealth, you'll be happy. Or in America today, we're told if you get enough education, you'll be happy. If you have a big enough home and a nice enough car and a pretty enough spouse, you'll be happy. And yet everyone is finding it does not fill the void. But because of our sin, rather than yielding and saying, okay, hold on a moment here. I thought that this was gonna fill the void and it hasn't. What we do is we we just double down again and again, and we say, Oh, you know what? I thought a million dollars is gonna make me happy, it didn't. I just need two million, right? And then we get two million and we're like, it doesn't make us happy. And you know what I think is gonna make me happy? I just need three million. And on and on it goes, and we're keep trying to fill a void that we cannot fail because God placed those cravings inside of us for the purpose of being satisfied in connection with Him. And there's no other place they could be satisfied but in connection with Him. So I would I would really urgently want your listeners to hear this: that the temptation is strong because we have a sin nature inside of us that keeps luring us away from connection with God, to the point where sadly a lot of people in the church have the same fears, the same hopes, the same definition of success as the world has. And I would plead with your listeners to realize that every generation in the history of the world has found out that earthly things cannot satisfy. And so, to a certain degree, like the like the father of the prodigal son, I encourage you to return to the father because it's only in connection with him that you're gonna be able to have find that peace that surpasses understanding that the scripture talks about. It can only be satisfied in connection with your Maker.

SPEAKER_00 29:11

You often say people are more than just body and mind, that we are fundamentally a soul. How could that how should that change how we live day to day?

SPEAKER_01 29:25

Well, the reason it should change how it affects you day-to-day is to realize, again, going back to the fundamental shift in understanding, you are not a mortal person that, if you are good enough, is going to be granted immortality in the future. And if you're bad enough, you're gonna have, you know, immortal torment. That's not the way. You are created as an immortal being. And this earth that we live in right now is, as I talk about this in depth in my second book, A Song of Light and Fire, is a choosing ground. The reason you are here is you have the opportunity to continue listening to the voice of the serpent like Adam and Eve did, and decide to try to look for fulfillment by

Living Daily With An Eternal View

SPEAKER_01 30:10

yourself, to try to define good and evil for yourself, or to return back to connection with their with your maker, like Adam and Eve walked away from, stepped away from in the Garden of Eden when they decided to go their own way. All this earthy life is a choosing ground. You, in fact, I would say to you, Dorsey, that the secret, the secret to you cannot live the life the scripture has called you to live. You cannot believe the things the scripture has called you to believe until you begin looking at life with an eternal perspective, realizing that I don't have to experience full joy right here on earth because it's a fallen place, but heaven is coming. And oh, it's gonna be beautiful. I don't have to experience all the pleasures, I don't have to get everything right now because I'm an eternal creature and this moment, this mortal moment on earth is just a blip. It's in the span of eternity, it is just a small segment of time. And if you truly believe that Jesus has gone to prepare a place for you, it releases all the burden and all the stress of having to satisfy every longing now. What does the scripture say about those who live by the world? It says, they eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die. That's ultimately the way the world is looking at it. If you're looking at this world thinking, this is where I have to be happy, this is where I have to be successful, this is where everything has to go right for me, then we live stressful lives where we try to satisfy eternal craving with temporal things. But when you're able to release that, when you realize, no, I am an eternal creature and God is preparing a place for me, well, you know what? That's what allowed Jesus to face the things he faced. Remember what it says of Jesus? It says, for the joy set before him, he endured the cross. He could endure suffering, terrible torment now because he knew the joy that was coming. And when we can begin to make that shift, then we can endure the hardships of a fallen world with joy because we know we are convinced of the joy that is coming.

SPEAKER_00 32:29

Amen.

SPEAKER_01 32:39

Well, my encouragement and wisdom to you would be to realize that you were created by a God who loves you, and you were created by eternity. And by you, I don't mean, I don't just mean mankind. I don't mean America. I don't mean all the people in your church. I mean like you, Dorothy, were fashioned and breathed into by the creator of the universe. He has created you for eternity to walk with him and laugh with him and enjoy fulfillment in him. And I would say that to each one of your listeners, that is who and what you are. And this world is still echoing with the lie of the serpent in the Garden of Eden. What did the serpent say? Essentially, the serpent said one of two things. He said, Don't believe God, believe me, right? That is resounding in the world today. Don't believe God's word, believe me. That's what the serpent is saying. And the serpent, when God said, This is good and this is evil, the serpent said, Don't believe it. He's trying to keep you down. You get to determine and decide good from evil. And so, because of that, this world is a fallen place. Not because God has cursed it and he makes bad things happen, far from it. But because in our sinful nature, we keep harming each other. Over 3,000 times in the scripture, God tells us how to do things right, how to love our enemies, how to turn the other cheek. Over 3,000 times there are these commands where he's telling you, if you want to live at peace with each other, do this. We don't do it. As humanity, we're still doing our own thing. That's why the world has fallen. But I will say this: this is just a temporary season. The day will come where, as Paul says it, this body we're in is like a tent. And we groan, longing to be released into our heavenly dwelling. And I would just want to encourage your believers, folks, this is not a fairy tale. Eternity is coming. And as I talk about in my book, A Song of Light and Fire, if you have accepted Jesus as your Savior, I'm telling you the joy that is set before you is so beautiful and so big that it will allow you to face the hardship of your circumstance today with joy. And so I encourage each one of your believers, your listeners, to remember who and what they are, and every day to remember who and what they are. Because every day the lie of the serpent is going to continue to echo. The lure of the flesh, the sin nature is going to continue to pull you, but God is going to continue to pull you as well. His word is going to continue to echo. And so you get to choose the voice you listen to today. And I would encourage you to choose the voice that speaks life.

SPEAKER_00 35:31

Corey Rehenek. Corey Rehenek, thank you so much for coming on the show today. We greatly appreciate having you. Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_01 35:40

It's been a privilege.

SPEAKER_00 35:41

Guys and girls, thank you so much for tuning in and for joining us. Please go and share and like this episode and go check out Corey's uh book and his books and the show notes. And until next time, God bless. Bye bye.